9 Late-Round Lottery Tickets that Will Win Your Fantasy Football League

Kevin is a Ph.D. computer scientist. His doctoral work at MIT was focused on quantum algorithms. During the fantasy offseason, he teaches computer science at the University of Washington, his alma mater.

Late in drafts, after you have filled out your starting roster spots and the key backups, you have a chance to take a flier on some cheap players with potential upside. Below, I'll discuss the late-round running backs and wide receivers that I like best.

In this article, I'm going to limit myself to players being drafted in the 16th round or later. That is late enough that you can safely grab all the depth players you need at every position before turning to these picks. In fact, you could even draft a defense or kicker, giving yourself top picks at those positions, and still be assured that a few of these lottery picks will be available in the last rounds.

Running Backs

Even though Matt Jones is the top RB on the depth chart, it looks like Thompson will carve out a role for himself as the third-down back for the Redskins this season. That should provide him with a floor in the RB4/RB5 range. However, unlike some other passing-down backs, Thompson also has the ability to be the primary-down back. Last season, Thompson averaged 6.2 yards per carry, versus 3.4 for Jones. This was admittedly on a small sample for Thompson, but he demonstrated an ability to break off a big run in a few different games.

The Redskins coaching staff seems committed to giving Jones the first crack at being the primary-down back. However, in the event that Jones gets injured or if he continues to be inefficient, Thompson could step into a large role in Washington. Thompson is available in the 20th round.

The Ravens backfield is very muddy at the moment. As a result, all three potential backups to Justin Forsett are going in the 14th round or later. Of those three, West may be the most likely to inherit primary-down work in the event of an injury to Forsett.

Unlike Javorius Allen and Kenneth Dixon, who stand out in the passing game, West is earning praise for his running. West saw some goal line work in the first preseason game, and we already have him projected to score nearly as many TDs this season as a healthy Forsett. Should Forsett pick up an injury, it seems likely all of the goal line work and a large fraction of the carries would go to West, who is available in the 20th round.

While I normally don't look to grab rookie RBs in redraft leagues, I'd consider making an exception for two of them this season, the first of which is DeAndre Washington.

Washington is a talented pass catcher and has a good chance to carve out a passing-down role, at Latavius Murray's expense. However, Washington has already become the backup to Latavius Murray on the depth chart, which suggests that the Raiders like his running ability as well. Should Murray get injured, Washington could step into a large role in the Raiders offense.

He's going in the 16th round, which a little earlier than two RBs mentioned, but that is still quite cheap.